Headlines from Tampa Bay #Rays' campaign for a new stadium since '09 (and other #SportsBiz stuff). Named to Forbes' #SportsMoney50 list.
Joined August 2010
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No idea why you’d trust me.
I’m just a guy who:
- worked in pro sports
- covered the biz of sports
- exposed corporate fraud
- busted bad politicians
- has no financial interest in a new Rays stadium
- will never get free luxury box tickets to a new stadium.
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Shadow of Stadium retweeted
⚠️Reminder: journalists are under no obligation to use silly names, like “Boston Stadium,” during the World Cup.
⚠️Also: journalists are under no obligation to use silly names, like “Lumen Field,” any other day of the year.
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Potential lesson here for Tampa Bay, too, in latest @pablofindsout…
Cities don’t really benefit from “being put on the map” by sports when they’re already on the map.
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Shadow of Stadium retweeted
Jun 12
America's Addiction to Stadium Subsidies #economics #stadiums #subsidies youtube.com/shorts/0V_HpyQxZ… via @YouTube
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When you don’t have the votes, you delay.
Jun 11
Tampa council members push Rays stadium vote to August tampabay.com/news/2026/06/11…
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Shadow of Stadium retweeted
Jun 11
Uh, the poll shows voters oppose the current stadium deal. I'm unsure why that's not the headline.
Jun 10
Poll shows voters see pros of Rays stadium, feel shut out of decisions tampabay.com/news/2026/06/10…
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Reminder: teams hate relocation.
Also: it's all talk until shovels are in the ground.
If Bears execs saying they'll "advance" an Indiana stadium was meant to end debate about the team's home, it's not working. If it was meant to stir up debate, reigniting a bidding war after Illinois declined to pass tax subsidies, it's going gangbusters. fieldofschemes.com/2026/06/1…
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Florida's suffering big population losses due to its housing & affordability problems.
Politicians are going to have to rethink their priorities.
Jun 10
Florida's population losses are compounding.
Miami had the 4th-largest population loss among U.S. metros in Q1 2026.
Orlando had the 6th biggest.
And Tampa lost more people than Chicago.
This data comes from Bank of America's internal account data and is a shocking revelation for anyone who thinks Florida's housing market is recovering.
People continue to leave Florida due to still high prices, soaring property taxes, and expensive insurance.
So much so that a state that was built on massive levels of in-migration of Americans is now losing people in its three biggest metro areas.
As a result, don't be surprised if Florida's housing market continues to correct until things become cheap enough to keep people from leaving.
Track migration by county at reventure.app/mobile.
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Babby preaches "the halo effect."
Except new research confirms what old research had previously found: stadiums' halo effects are often negative, stealing economy from surrounding neighborhoods instead of bolstering them.
Board members of the redevelopment agency told him they don't want all the future money going to the team. He said the larger community would benefit from what is called the "halo effect."
wusf.org/sports/2026-06-11/r…
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A majority of likely voters who live near the proposed new Rays stadium oppose the use of public funds to subsidize the development.
Jun 10
#Rays stadium update:
Poll shows voters see pros of Rays stadium in Tampa, feel shut out of decisions
tampabay.com/news/2026/06/10…
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But… But… I thought these major events were supposed to bring in all this revenue?
The decision by the states of Missouri, Georgia and Florida to waive taxes on World Cup ticket sales will mean at least $57.8 million in lost revenue for American taxpayers, according to analysis by The Athletic.
✍️ @AdamCrafton_ and @CWeatherspoon_
🔗 nytimes.com/athletic/7321482…
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If Tampa can’t make a Rays stadium happen, their boosters will blame everyone but themselves.
But don’t buy it. They intentionally misled you into thinking Hillsborough could build a fourth stadium without impacting essential services.👇
18 Dec 2019
Location is great and all...but most importantly, Pinellas has a lot more money than Hillsborough.
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“Each [host city] will spend upwards of $100M to accommodate the World Cup.
“Many are determined to balance those budgets, but that’s proven difficult.”
Will World Cup host cities make loads of money? The short answer is 'no', and U.S. host cities have not been prepared to write blank checks to pay for this summer's activities nytimes.com/athletic/7190136…
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The research is new.
The finding is not.
But it’s🚨🚨🚨.
You shouldn’t🙉.
They also found there seem to be signs that growth in the immediate neighborhood of a stadium comes at the expense of areas a few miles away from the stadium in a way that doesn’t take place at non-stadium sites.
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Shadow of Stadium retweeted
Researchers found no significant economic differences between the immediate areas around new NFL stadiums vs those around rejected runner-up sites, which is consistent with *gestures at everything everyone in this room has been publishing for years*. fieldofschemes.com/2026/06/0…
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When you don’t have the votes, you delay.
(Not having enough information is also a good reason, but not one that usually gets in the way!)
Jun 9
#Rays stadium update:
A vote planned for this week could be pushed to July.
tampabay.com/news/2026/06/08…
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Non-political political observation:
The defense of our growing nat’l debt has long been that we can just “grow our way out of it.”
A lot of Fla politicians, who loudly criticized that strategy, are now suggesting Hillsborough can just pay off stadium debt w/growth.
Discuss.
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I can see a lot of Hillsborough stadium advocates didn’t like this one lol. Noted!
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Whoops! Corrected link!
Former Marlins exec @DavidPSamson says a Rays deal in Tampa is hanging by a thread because the team was “unwilling to be transparent.”
youtu.be/57fudsvSS58?si=nPay…
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Stadium deals are like buying a used car.
If you’re focused on a single number, you’re going to get fleeced ten other ways. Because the salesmen are better than you at this.
You’ve really got to look at the *total* price of what it’ll cost you.
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